


The Green Paladin

by Canadiantardis



Series: The Paladins of Voltron [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Brainwashing, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen, Haggarian!Pidge, Kidnapping, Mind Manipulation, Minor Violence, Surprisingly kidfriendly besides the angst, With a twist to follow canon kinda, a few OCs here and there, because aliens, kinda sorta
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-28
Updated: 2017-03-03
Packaged: 2018-09-20 09:18:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9484655
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadiantardis/pseuds/Canadiantardis
Summary: Pidge is taken by the Galra when the team had been separated during an ambush, and is soon made to be a weapon against Voltron.//My take on a few things I saw on tumblr, including an au where Haggar turns Pidge into the Winter Soldier, basically.





	1. Caught

**Author's Note:**

> My first work in Voltron, please be kind ^.^  
> Also, I use her/she pronouns for Pidge (because I personally see her as a girl) so just fyi.

Pidge woke up with a pounding headache, and she groaned. She reached up to grab her temple and rubbed it, as if it would soothe the pain.

It was only then that she opened her eyes, and was assaulted by a purple that filled her with dread.

"Oh quiznak." She swore softly, closing her eyes again as if to block out the purple light the Galra seemed to love in their ships.

Sitting up, Pidge took inventory of herself and trying to recall how she could have gotten caught. She was wearing her paladin suit, although she didn’t have her helmet - nor Matt's glasses Pidge noticed with a sudden fear seizing her chest. She kept the fear at bay for a moment before she realized she was chained from one of her legs to the center of the room with some sort of strong steel or similar metal.

"No." Pidge groaned again, tugging at the cuff around her ankle. "Get off, get off..."

As she pulled at the chain she started to remember what happened before she woke up here, although her memory still felt a little fuzzy.

Pidge remembered laughing with Hunk at a joke he made as the whole team went exploring a new planet while Allura and Coran looked over the castle. She remembered turning to Lance to ask him something, maybe about how the lake they were walking along looked even more amazing than back home when the blue paladin shouted for her to get down.

She remembered dropping in time to hear something shoot past where her back had been and scrambled up to get her bayard.

Pidge paused her tugging, remembering more. She had been split up from the others, having been surrounded by Galra soldiers, and slipped into the a wooded area - or the planet's equivalent anyway - but knew she was still being pursued. Pidge thought she could take care of them all before she could rejoin the others but it seemed one got the jump on her and knocked her out.

Pidge felt worry worm its way into her gut, wondering if the others had been caught too, but unable to know since she didn’t have her helmet.

"Okay Pidge, don’t freak out." She reminded herself, taking a deep breath. "Just gotta think of a way out of this. Get the cuff off, find a way to open the door and escape or find out where the others are. This isn’t the first time we've been separated."

After her little pep talk to herself, Pidge looked around herself, seeing what she had on her and what she could use, but frowned at how there was nothing. The room was completely barren, and the chain seemed to be melded with the floor.

Pidge huffed in annoyance, tapping her fingers on her leg. "Quiznak..."

She stood up and stretched her legs, taking a walk around the room, hoping she would find something she might have missed the first time looking around, but again found nothing of use. She could reach the door even chained, but she couldn’t figure out how to open it from this side, and even if she could how would that help her? She would still be chained with no way to get out of it without doing something drastic.

"Guess I'll have to be patient and wait for an opportunity..." She muttered, sitting against a wall, prepared to be bored until someone came to get her.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Lance gulped down air, down on his hands and knees from all the running and fighting, soon falling to lay spread eagle on the floor of the castle ship.

He was pretty sure he was the last to escape from the Galra troops that had ambushed them - and on the planet that actually had a nice view of water no less! - as he heard footsteps approach him quickly.

“Lance, you made it back.” Hunk sounded relieved, and Lance felt his friend’s hands turn him over so they could see each other’s faces. “Did you have much trouble with them?”

“Wha? Wha makes y’think tha?” Lance asked breathlessly.

Hunk laughed. “Well, at least you’re back. Did you see Pidge after we all split up?”

Lance shook his head. “No, why?”

“Pidge hasn’t returned yet.”

Lance felt his lungs even out, no longer out of breath and he slowly got himself up to a sitting position. “Maybe Pidge is still running. She’s smart, we’ll see her any second now.”

Hunk looked uneasy but he nodded.

Lance sighed in resignation. “Have you tried contacting Pidge through our helmets? She was still wearing her helmet right?”

That got Hunk perking up and he stood up quickly, snapping his fingers as if he hadn’t had that thought until now. As he went off to find his helmet, the other paladins appeared from the inner castle to check on Lance.

“Good to see you’re okay, Lance.” Shiro greeted, offering a hand so the teen could stand up.

“Did you lose them? Or did you fight them?” Keith asked.

“I outran them, but I was able to get a few of them with my bayard to keep them at bay.” Lance answered. “Took a bit of time, but man am I glad to see the ship again and not an enemy Galra in sight.”

Keith scoffed, and Shiro turned to see what Hunk was doing. Lance looked over as well, seeing how Hunk was almost hitting himself as if something was wrong with his helmet.

“What’s up, buddy? The communications won’t work?”

“No, they work, but Pidge isn’t answering. Even if she were still running, wouldn’t we be able to hear breathing?” Hunk started to sound worried, looking between the other paladins.

“Pidge isn’t back yet?” Shiro asked, looking out of the castle as if the green paladin would suddenly emerge. “She won’t answer the radios, either? Are you sure?”

Lance would normally find it amusing to hear Shiro’s almost fatherly voice come through, but the situation didn’t make anything really funny so he stowed the thought away. “Pidge’s smart. She, I dunno, maybe she took off her helmet to not get distracted or something?”

“She’s smart, but she wouldn’t take off her helmet, Lance.” Keith deadpanned, putting a hand on his hip. “But we can’t really know if she’s in danger or not, not for another little while. Maybe she got lost and is on her way back.”

Hunk didn’t look convinced. “If she was on her way back, why isn’t she answering? Or telling us where she is!”

“Guys calm down.” Shiro stepped in. “We’ll give this another half hour.”

The teens looked between themselves then back at Shiro and one by one they nodded in agreement.

“I’m gunna stay down to wait for Pidge.” Lance said, heading to sit against a wall while the other three nodded and headed back up, most likely to see Allura or Coran.

Lance stayed where he was for a while before he noticed something in the distance. He stood up quickly and headed to the edge of the castle, squinting at the moving thing. _What is that?_ He wondered to himself as he focused on it before his eyes widened.

It was a Galra ship and it seemed to be leaving the planet for whatever reason, and at a surprising speed. Lance felt something like fear stir in the pit of his stomach, but he continued watching.

“Guys? There’s a Galra ship in the distance, and it seems to be leaving?” He shouted, knowing the ship would connect with the rest of the people onboard. “Pidge is also still not back.”

“Still?” He heard Shiro’s voice ask worriedly.

“What do those two things even have in common, Lance?” Keith asked next, and Lance could imagine the raised eyebrow on the red paladin’s expression.

“I, I don’t know, but I just have a bad feeling.” Lance answered. “I mean, come on, guys. Pidge is smart but we haven’t heard from her or seen her since we all split up. And now a Galra ship is leaving at a fast pace.”

“Oh, no, you can’t honestly think-” Hunk sounded very worried, almost panicked.

“I hope I’m wrong too, Hunk, but look! She’s not back, and we can’t contact her! What if she is on that ship?”

“What’s going on?” Allura’s voice came up, just as Lance turned around as the Galra ship disappeared from sight, heading into the castle for the bridge.

“Lance thinks Pidge has been captured by the Galra because she won’t answer the radios and hasn’t come back yet.” Keith answered, sounding unconvinced to Lance.

“Well, why else wouldn’t she answer Hunk or give us anything to know she was okay?” Lance shot back angrily.

“Pidge is missing?” Allura sounded confused.

“Yes, Princess, apparently.” Shiro answered.

Lance reached the bridge to see the rest of the paladins and the Alteans already there, with Shiro explaining to Allura and Coran how they had gotten split up to Pidge still not being back.

Allura saw Lance enter and quickly made her way to him, standing very close to him, grabbing his shoulders. “Where did you see the ship go off to?”

Chapter done!


	2. Hurt

Pidge had nodded off sometime during her time in solitude. She jerked awake when she heard a lot of footsteps heading her way.

Standing up, taking a defensive position, Pidge readied herself for whoever was going to be coming through the door.

She saw three pairs of feet as the cell door opened up, soon seeing who the three were. Her gaze hardened even more at the heavy robes that seemed to cover the witch, Haggar.

There was a sentry along with her, but the third, the one in the middle of the two, was new to Pidge. The Galra seemed to be quite tall but young, at least compared to all the other Galra Pidge had met before.

“Ah, you’re awake, are you?” Haggar sounded amused as she and the young Galra man moved out of the way for the sentry to approach Pidge. “This makes things more fun.”

The sentry picked up Pidge like she weighed nothing, and took off the cuff from her ankle, despite her struggling.

“Let go of me! Get off me, you sack of bolts!” She cried, struggling futilely to escape from the sentry’s grip, before she stilled when she heard the Galra man laughed, and she glared at him.

“Are all these creatures as dumb as this one?” He asked off-handedly to Haggar, infuriating Pidge further.

“Say that to my face!” She shouted at him, but only got another laugh in response.

Haggar didn’t reply at all, as she turned around and waved her arm, having the sentry follow behind her, and the Galra followed alongside her.

Pidge continued to struggle but made herself aware of where in this ship she was in, and where they were heading off to. They walked on for several minutes, taking a few turns here and there before finally ending up in front of a door.

Haggar had the door open and the the three plus Pidge went inside the room, the captive’s eyes scanning the room as she was dragged into it. It was dark, far darker than her cell room had been, and crowded from what she could tell.

“Place this one on the table, and keep the arms and legs secure.” Haggar commanded the sentry and it did just that.

Pidge struggled again, hoping to get the upper hand on the sentry to maybe get away, but soon her arms were tied down to a table, and while she was able to kick at the sentry, it wasn’t enough to escape, and soon she was completely immobile.

“What are you going to do to me?” She demanded, turning to face Haggar and the other Galra.

“You’re going to help the Galra Empire take back Voltron, child.” Haggar said, leaning close enough to the captive for Pidge to see a deadly smile under the witch’s hood.

“What? No way!” Pidge shook her head angrily. “I’d never help you Galra after all you’ve done!”

“Oh, by the time we’re done, you’ll be very willing to help the Galra Empire get Voltron back.” Haggar gave a laugh, and Pidge saw the witch stretch out her hand to her, a ball of black-purple energy growing from her palm. Despite her anger over being held captive, Pidge’s eyes widened and felt fear run throughout her veins.

“No, get away from me!” She cried just as Haggar sent the energy at her chest and her mind went blank except white-blinding agony.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

“They’re out of the system now.” Coran stated, a bit of panic in his tone. “The Galra must have  jumped. I don’t know if we can track the ship or Pidge now.”

“What?! So we’re just letting them have Pidge and do whatever they want with her?” Lance shouted, jumping up from his seat on the bridge.

“Lance, calm down. We’re not abandoning anyone.” Shiro turned to the teens, using his Leader Voice. “We’re just going to look for her the old way. Search for her like she’s been searching for Matt and her father.”

“But what if they just kill her? How would we know what’s happening to her?” Hunk put in, his hands gripping his armrests tightly. “We can’t just leave Pidge to the Galra, who knows what they’ll do to a Paladin of Voltron.”

“Exactly!” Lance cried, pointing at Hunk. “We ne-”

“We can’t do _anything._ ” Allura said tersely, her expression pained. “We don’t know where they have gone, and we have no way of tracking them at this moment. I hate this situation just as much as the rest of you do, but we cannot track Pidge until we get something.”

Keith sighed, leaning his head back on his seat. “So what do we do now?”

“I-I don’t know…” Allura looked down at the floor, and the others all could see her pained expression transform her face. “I don’t know, if Pidge were here and it was one of you, she’d figure something out to track the one captive, but since she’s…”

“It’s okay, Princess. We’ll find her and save her.” Shiro promised, and Lance hoped he would be able to stick with that promise to save their friend. “We found and saved you, didn’t we?”

“Well, yes, but you already knew where I would be. We don’t know where that ship is going.”

“Then let’s think about it. What would the Galra do with a Paladin of Voltron?” Keith asked, causing the rest to think about the question.

“Wouldn’t they just kill her? They’ve been trying to kill us since we first found Blue.” Lance answered.

“Then why would they take her? If they wanted to kill Pidge, they wouldn’t have taken off with her still alive.” Keith rebuked.

It was a good point, and made the bridge go quiet for several long ticks.

“What if she’s being brought to whoever is now leading the Galra with Zarkon gone?” Shiro questioned.

“Why?” Lance asked in response.

“I’m not sure, but it would make the most sense, don’t you think? The Galra take prisoners all the time. Why wouldn’t they take a paladin prisoner?”

The bridge went quiet again.

“Then who’s now leading the Galra?” Keith asked slowly.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a bit of time difference between what's happening to Pidge and what's happening with the rest of Voltron.  
> Also, that feeling when I keep almost writing Zarkon as the big baddie because I keep forgetting what happened in Season 2.


	3. Fear the Lightning, Little Bird

There were very few times Pidge had ever felt any sort of pain before, but nothing held up a candle to the pain she felt as Haggar poured her black energy into her body. Sure, she had been attacked numerous times, been flung around rooms like she was a doll when fighting against various Galra Empire sympathizers, and even more recently going through the very beginning stages of puberty with violent cramps that would render her practically useless for hours or days at a time - of course, this was before she was given some Altean medicine for the pain from Allura that made it more of a minor discomfort.

But nothing she had ever experienced prepared her for the blinding agony she felt in that moment. She felt her mind go into overdrive and she wasn’t sure if she was screaming or not, as if her senses had been snipped from her mind.

As soon as Haggar stopped, Pidge felt her limbs become loose and weak, and it was only then that she had realized she had practically lifted up from the table in an effort to get away from the pain, and she idly felt her hands were wet, far wetter than they would with sweat. Without even looking she knew she had pierced her palms with her nails.

Pidge panted heavily, her head lolling to the side and only then was she able to hear around her.

“This one is weak in mind, isn’t he?” She heard the other Galra point out, and if she hadn’t just been subjected to whatever Haggar had done to her, she would have spat at him. “It should be very easy to get him to work for us, don’t you think?”

Haggar made a noise of contemplation. “He is surprisingly strong-willed, though. My magic needs to control the mind completely before we can mold the body to our goals.”

“Of course, Haggar.” The Galra sounded respectful. “How long will it take, do you think?”

“Should be a couple quintants, if not longer, Prince Lotor.”

Pidge turned her head painfully to face the two, pain twisting her expression but loathing plain in her eyes. “You’ll…” She panted, her words a little over a hoarse whisper. “You’ll never make me… into one of your… bloody pawns…”

The Galra, Prince Lotor - _was he related to Zarkon then?_ Pidge wondered - looked down at the Paladin and scoffed, amused. “Haggar can do whatever she wants with prisoners. She’s very skilled, you know.”

“Please, Prince Lotor, do not say anything to the Paladin.” Haggar swept an arm to move the Prince away from the table Pidge was tied down on. “At least, not when he still has free will.”

“Ah, of course, Haggar. Apologies.” Prince Lotor still sounded amused, and he stepped back, heading out of the room. “But please, let me know how the experiments go. The sooner we get this pawn working, the sooner we will be able to capture Voltron and things will return to the way they are meant to be.”

“Of course, my Lord.” Haggar replied, her attention turning back to Pidge when Lotor left the room. “But first,” she muttered, raising her hand again to Pidge’s chest, “might as well find out what you know.”

Pidge’s mind was wiped again, and all she saw was a blank white nothingness.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

They couldn’t find her. They couldn’t find her. They would never find her!

There was no way to track Pidge’s suit, Coran and Allura had tried several times in the past couple hours. No one could get the Green Lion to search for her, or for the Green Lion to even wake up, her shield up protectively even though it was safe in the Castle.

When Hunk and Lance had seen the Green Lion’s shield, both felt their guts fill with lead and worry.

“She’s protecting herself. Why would the Green Lion be protecting herself if not because Pidge is in danger?” Lance brought up heatedly during dinner, barely touching the food Hunk and Coran had made together.

“But we have no way to find Pidge, Lance.” Allura said for the upteenth time. “And now that the Green Lion has shut herself away from us, we will not be able to find Pidge using her.”

“We’ll find her, guys. Pidge is smart and strong, despite her size.” Shiro said, trying to sound reassuring, but like the rest of the Castle’s occupants, he was stressed and worried. “If they took her because she’s a Paladin, she was taken to the heart of the Galra Empire, just like what happened with Allura the first time we fought Zarkon head-on.”

“Yeah, but when we went after Allura, we knew where the heart was. Now that Zarkon’s gone, and the fact he kept following us for several months, there’s no way they kept the heart in the same place.” Hunk put in.

“We still need to figure out who’s continuing Zarkon’s rule now that he’s gone anyway.” Keith said, tapping his spork against the bowl-like dish that held his serving of dinner.

“Well, there could be a number of Galra that we had not met who might’ve been high in command before we defeated Zarkon.” Shiro said, sounding contemplative.

“There’s also the Witch, Haggar, right?” Lance asked, looking to Allura. “She disappeared after your fight, right?”

The Princess nodded, putting a finger to the side of her jaw, thinking. “Haggar wasn’t anywhere near me after I had performed my magic. She could very well be the one calling the shots since we finally defeated Zarkon.”

“I feel like it would be Haggar. She’s the only one who would want any of us Paladins.” Lance said with finality. “And with her magic, who knows what she could do with Pidge.”

“But we don’t know for certain, Lance.” Shiro said, pushing his plate of half-eaten food away from him. “This is all speculation, and even if we find out who’s now in charge, we won’t be any closer to knowing where Pidge is being held now.”

Keith sighed angrily. “We’re just talking in circles. We know, Shiro. We know we can’t find Pidge. Stop bringing it up every five seconds, please.”

The room went quiet, even the mice sitting close to Allura’s plate having stopped squeaking to look at Keith and Shiro.

“I’m sorry, but I’m just stating the only facts we have on the situation.” Shiro said slowly, rising from his seat. “Maybe we should all clear our heads. Nothing good ever comes from being at each other’s throats.”

The Black Paladin left the room soon after, and the entire room felt like it had dropped several degrees and filled with worry.

“I know everyone’s worried for Number Five, but we really can’t do anything.” Coran said in a soft voice, a tone normally reserved when talking about Alfor or the Altean species or comforting one of the other members of the Castle. “It’s horrible to hear, but we might not find her in time.”

The teens all felt the lead in their guts solidify, the idea that they would never see the snarky, technological genius that was their Green Paladin, like a death sentence to their young friend, and they all left the dining room after a terrible silence choked them, leaving only the Alteans.

“That, that was harsh, wasn’t it?” Coran turned to the Princess, who nodded.

“I do not wish that to ever be a reality. We have to find her, Coran.” Allura looked grief-stricken. “She’s just a child. A Paladin of Voltron, yes, but first and foremost a child that’s been swept up in all of this.”

“We’ll do everything we can to find her, Princess. But we also have to be ready for the worst.” Coran sounded final, and the two looked between each other, pain in their eyes at the horrible thought.

They just had to find Pidge, to save her before it was too late.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh I should probably mention, this is slightly canon divergent because I decided to not have Shiro disappear after the battle with Zarkon (for simplicity's sake, since this would have been maybe a few months after the fight). Everything else should be close to canon, hopefully.  
> Also, note on why Haggar and Lotor call Pidge he/him is because, well, just because she told the Castle she was a girl doesn't mean their enemies suddenly know Pidge is a girl.


	4. From Paladin to Pawn

Pidge lost time from all the torture - she wasn’t all too sure _what_ Haggar was doing to her but torture was the only word she could come up with - she had been forced to endure. She no longer knew if she had a voice, or what she had been doing before Haggar came in to perform her magic on the captive.

At first the pain was the only thing she felt, but as time went on, Pidge heard voices outside of her head, always in the same commanding tone.

“You will find the other Paladins and kill them.”

“You will take back what belongs to the Galra.”

“You are a Pawn.”

The longer the voice spoke, the longer that Pidge was forced to endure, she started to feel her willpower crack and buckle under the words.

And then one day, the pain stopped. She heard the words, and nodded in agreement.

“Good, now repeat after me, Pawn.” Haggar said, and Pi-Pawn missed the smug look on the Witch’s face as she nodded. “You will find and kill the other Paladins.”

“I will find and kill the…” Pawn’s throat was ruined, so she only spoke in a hoarse whisper. “The other Paladins.”

“When you do, you will take the Lions.”

“When I do… I will take the Lions.” A small thought struggled to come to the forefront of Pawn’s mind, but she didn’t acknowledge it.

“And you will bring them back where they belong. Back into Galra hands.”

“I will bring them back… Where they belong…”

“Good, Pawn.” Haggar said with a large splitting grin. “Those Paladins are not to be trusted, Pawn.”

“Not to be trusted…” Pawn whispered to herself, blinking owlishly at Haggar, and again felt a niggling thought try to come to her attention.

“They have wronged you.” Haggar said, coming up with a way to ensure the Green Paladin would not be easily brought back from the brainwashing, after her time tearing through the Paladin’s mind. “They are the reason your family is gone.”

Pawn’s breathing quickened, snatches of memories coming back of a brother and father, of a man who had been with them, black hair with a white streak close to his forehead, with them before her family disappeared. “They are the reason my family is gone.”

“Yes, exactly. They killed them. They should not be allowed to live, after what they’ve done.” Haggar prompted. She couldn’t let the Paladin waver, she had to have complete control over the small one to ensure he wouldn’t escape.

“After what they’ve done…” The owlish-confused expression on Pawn’s face melted into anger, of rage at the thought of these Paladins who slaughtered her family, her mind creating illusions of what they must have done, and felt the small niggling in her head disappear all of a sudden. “Cannot live.”

Haggar smiled triumphantly down at her experiment.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Days turned into weeks before time was lost completely, and the Castle of Lions was as silent as a grave most of the time.

The loss of Pidge had taken a huge toll on everyone, each blaming themselves for her capture and prolonged imprisonment, before Coran and Allura made the call that they were most likely too late.

“The Galra wouldn’t keep prisoners in one place this long, and one as strong as Pidge…” Allura shared a look with Shiro. “We can only imagine how long she would last.”

“You’re saying she’s dead.” Lance’s expression and tone were monotone, flat, but his eyes held the fear he felt for even saying those words. “You’re saying Pidge is dead.”

Allura clasped her hands, and it was only then they realized the Princess was shaking, her voice wavering just like it had when she had to destroy her father’s A.I. after it had been corrupted. “I’m sorry. There’s just no way Pidge would still be alive.”

“It’s a heavy heart, but this is still a war.” Coran said, putting a comforting hand on Allura’s shoulder. “And in wars, we sadly lose people we care about.”

“Pidge _can’t_ be dead.” Keith said, having been the most silent throughout the conversation, Hunk having already left the room after Lance had spoken. “She’s smarter than everyone in this Castle combined and deceptively strong. She’s not dead, I refuse to believe it.”

“There’s no way she would still be alive, it’s been months, Keith.” Shiro said.

“We can’t give up on her.” Keith ground out, his eyes narrowing at the others in the room.

“Yea.” Lance agreed. “We can’t give up on Pidge. Even after what happened on Kerberos, she never gave up on finding her dad and brother. We shouldn’t give up on her if she never gave up on her family.”

Keith stood by Lance’s side, obviously relieved someone else was on his side. “I don’t care what you say, I’m refusing to believe Pidge is dead until I see her for myself.”

The two left the three adults after that, going to find where Hunk had gone. Shiro looked between the Alteans with a sad look.

“We don’t want to believe it either, Shiro.” Coran started.

“But we have to be prepared if it’s the truth, no matter how hard it hurts to bear.” Allura wasn’t looking at either man but at her feet, her voice still wavering.

“It’ll be okay. I know we have to prepare for the worst, but the others…” Shiro looked back at the door the teens had walked out of. “They’re still young and most haven’t lost someone like this before. It’ll take time.”

“Do we really have time to wait?” Coran asked. “If we really have lost Pidge, then we’ve basically lost Voltron and the Green Lion.”

The three winced, knowing it was true. Without Pidge they were down a Lion, and unless they found her - if she wasn’t dead that is - or until they find another who would be suitable to connect to the Green Lion, they would never be able to form Voltron.

As for the teens, Lance and Keith found Hunk in the Green Lion’s hangar, looking at all the wires that sat in what everyone called ‘Pidge’s Nest.’ He had a look of sorrow on his face as his eyes roamed the small but tight area of wires where Pidge would stay, working on some sort of new gadget or improvement to what she had already, and no one needed to guess that he had been crying.

He didn’t turn around when the other two entered the hangar, even though they knew he knew they were there, when he spoke.

“You know her birthday was a couple of quintants ago?” He asked in a soft voice. “She’d be fifteen right now.”

Lance was quiet, having almost forgotten what day it was now. He remembered talking about birthdays after Hunk had had his several months ago, and thinking about it, Hunk was right.

“I had asked her what she would have wanted for a cake or something.” Hunk continued on, finally tearing his eyes away from the Nest. “I was going to make this awesome cake that would look like a neuron for her, had the plans and everything all ready.”

“She’s not dead.” Keith said bluntly, and was about to continue when Hunk’s head shot up, a look of anger and pain in his expression.

“How do you know? We can’t keep living in a lie, acting like she’s gone on holiday or something like that.” He spat, surprising the two teens who had never seen him so angry. “We can’t keep hoping she’s alive if it’s obvious to the people who have _fought the Galra the longest_ that she wouldn’t survive.”

“They don’t know _anything_ , Hunk.” Keith fired back, stepping towards the larger teen, grabbing the front of his shirt. “They don’t think she can survive, but I would have thought, as one of the two people who have been around her the longest, you would have known she’s not stupid enough to die before she found out where her family is.”

“She’s just a kid, Keith! A smart kid, sure, but she was only fourteen!”

“She’s fifteen now, you just said so yourself!”

“Guys stop!” Lance shouted over them, stepping between his friends and physically pushing them away from each other. “Stop fighting. It’ll do no one any good.”

Both opened their mouths to argue but at a glare from the Blue Paladin they shut their mouths, glaring over the other’s head to each other.

“Guys, we can’t fall apart. We have to stick together, with or without Pidge in the future.” Keith opened his mouth to argue but Lance spoke over him. “We don’t know for sure if Pidge is alive or not. I know Keith and I believe she’s alive and the rest think she’s dead. But that doesn’t mean we can go at each other’s throats like this.”

“...dead.” Hunk mumbled, looking like all the fight had left him just as suddenly as it had come to him.

Lance looked his way, tilting his head as if to hear properly. “What was that, buddy?”

“...I don’t believe she’s dead.” Hunk mumbled a bit more clearly and the two other teens gave small smiles. “I don’t want to believe she’s dead, but what if she is?”

“Then we grieve when we find her.” Keith said simply. “Until I see her alive or dead, I’m sticking out for the hope Pidge is still alive.”

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone loves Pidge like she is their younger sister.  
> Also, for Pidge's POV, I will be using Pawn as her name since she now believes that is her name. Sorry if that might confuse any of you in the future, but hopefully it won't.  
> Can I also say I'd love to hear how you guys are reacting to this fic~ Since I'm making this a series I'd like to know if people are liking what I've written so far or not. Kudos are great, but comments legit make me smile for the entire day~


	5. Familiar Findings

A month had passed since the three adults gave up on the hope that Pidge was still alive when they received the distress signal.

“It’s from what looks to be an outcropping from the Largo system.” Allura announced when they heard about the signal. “They have said they’re a small rebel army that’s been trying to stay just ahead of the Galra but it seems they’ve been cornered.”

“How long until we get there, Princess?” Shiro asked, sitting up.

“In just a couple dobashes, hopefully with a quick jump.” Coran answered for her, preparing for the jump. “Paladins, you should all get ready for a fight, they might need the help.”

The four Paladins nodded and headed out from the bridge to get into their suits, Lance and Hunk walking the slowest. The jump would take them farther than Pidge could be, and it would really be it. They will have lost her forever. But they couldn’t think about Pidge now, they had to focus on helping the rebel group and see if by helping them they would earn another part of the Alliance against the Galra Empire.

A few dobashes later they had successfully made the jump and everyone was ready. They found a Galra ship with many of the smaller fighters shooting at what now looked like a debris field.

Shiro called for the three to head to their lions and soon they were out. Lance kept his mind occupied with not missing any of his shots, and even more concentration not hitting the apparent base of these rebels.

Together he and the other three remaining Paladins destroyed the Galra ship, with heavy damage done to them on the way. Lance felt a pang of regret as he saw the ship take its last shot before the thinnest part of the ship snapped. If they had caught one of the Galra, there could have been a chance they knew where Pidge was, and if she was indeed dead or not, but in the end forced himself to look away, heading after the others to the base.

Shiro left his Lion first when they saw a couple ragged-looking aliens appear out of the woodwork of the base, apparently looking for where the Galra had gone off to.

“Hey, everything’s okay. We got your distress signal.” He called to them, waving a hand as the others joined him, the Lions and the Castle looming over like benevolent guardians. “Is everyone okay?”

“Yeah, thanks for that. We would have been blasted to who-knows-where if not for your help.” The first, a long, willowy alien with a gravelly voice spoke.

The other, a short, thick furry creature, gasped when she saw the Lions. “You’re Voltron, aren’t you? You’re really here, thank the Crow.”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m Shiro, a Paladin of Voltron, and these three are Keith, Lance and Hunk.”

“Oh thank the Crow. There were stories that you had returned, and I am so grateful it is true.” The furry alien smiled, revealing very round teeth, like smoothed pebbles. “I am Jediisa, and this is our leader Laagonne.”

“Pleasure.” Shiro greeted. “How many are you?”

“We are very small, there are only a couple hundred of us.” Laagonne rumbled, gesturing for the Paladins to follow. “And most of the rebels are freed prisoners. We had been hoping to hide out so our newest group could recuperate their strength when a ship found us.”

“We cannot thank you enough, Paladins.” Jediisa said with a strange sort of smile now, her lips seeming to stretch from temple to temple. “We would have been prisoners again or worse if not for you aiding us.”

“It’s our job.” Hunk said with an easy smile. “It’s kinda our thing, helping people in need.”

“That is what the stories said!” The furry creature enthused, looking at the four Paladins before she seemed to realize something. “But, wait, are you not supposed to be five?”

Hunk’s smile melted off his face and the four looked between each other before Shiro answered. “For now we are only four. Our Green Paladin had been taken a few months ago by the Galra.”

“We don’t know if she’s alive or not but we can’t find where she had been taken.” Lance said quickly, fearing Shiro would automatically say Pidge was dead.

“Oh how horrible.” Jediisa murmured, putting a hand just under her bottom lip. “I am sorry. May the Crows provide the fifth brave Paladin strength and safety.”

Lance gave a grateful smile and nodded to the furry alien. “Thanks.”

They reached a corner and a door that was surprisingly reinforced despite the facade of the outside. Laagonne quickly opened the door and allowed the Paladins to enter first. There were gasps and quick, quiet tones as the rebels in the room slowly noticed who had entered. Lance heard the words ‘Paladins’ and ‘Voltron’ being tossed about before Laagonne and Jediisa appeared in front of the four to address the other rebels.

“We are safe. The ship has been destroyed by the brave Paladins of Voltron!” Laagonne called loudly, a smile appearing on his face as cheers erupted throughout the rebel base.

“Praise the Crows!” A few voices shouted jubilantly, with several more cheering the praise.

Lance had been looking at the aliens that made up this rebel base, curious about the different species. He saw several that looked like Jediisa’s kind, and a couple more that were obviously Laagonne’s kind. But he saw more variety, although many wore the same clothes that Shiro had returned to Earth in, proving they had been Galra prisoners when he saw familiar hair.

Although much taller than he had remembered the hair to be, Lance watched the head bob and weave through the crowd towards them, half certain he was only hallucinating.

Shiro was speaking to the crowd when the head made it to the very front of the crowd.

“...and we hope to form an al-” He started when the person that had made it to the front cried out in disbelief.

“Shiro?” Lance’s heart sank, the voice was much deeper than Pidge’s, but he looked almost identical to her, although he was taller, his hair was now longer, no glasses, and he wore the dark purple prisoner’s clothes still.

Shiro trailed off as he stared at the other for a long time before speaking. “Matt?”

“Oh my god, Shiro you’re okay.” Matt still sounded incredulous, as if unable to work out what he was seeing. He took a few more steps towards Shiro before the other beat him to it and closed the distance, hugging him tightly.

“You’re alive, I thought you had been killed in the arena.” Matt said, not minding the crowd that was listening to the conversation.

“It would take a lot more than that to kill me.” Shiro smiled at the young man. “We, they said you had been saved by rebels, I just didn’t think you’d here.”

“They?” Matt looked confused but shook his head. “These guys saved me and another dozen prisoners several months ago. I’m sure if not for them we would have all be killed or something.”

Lance and the other teens watched the scene unfold, each thinking relatively the same thing. They had all had different thoughts about finding Matt or Commander Holt, but never had they ever thought it would be without a certain green suited girl who had travelled throughout space just to look for them. And now, having to face this reality, hit them each a little too close for comfort.

“I really am glad to see you’re alive, Matt.” Shiro said finally, patting the other’s shoulder. “But, have you seen your father? What happened to him?”

Matt’s face fell. “He was getting sick. I, I don’t know, but I never saw him again after he returned from working, coughing. I don’t know what they did, but I don’t…” He looked down at the floor. “I don’t think he made it.”

That hit the Paladins hard, and just the knowledge that Pidge would only see Matt - if she was truly alive still - crushed them all inside.

“I’m sorry.” Lance said, approaching the two, causing Matt to look up at him, as if he forgot there were others here.

“It’s… It’s okay. I’ve grieved enough since becoming free. I’m sure he’d be happier now. The Galra are terrible.”

“Yeah, most are…” Keith muttered, crossing his arms like he always did when the Galra population was brought up.

“Now, who are you three?” Matt asked, his expression more upbeat than a couple ticks ago.

“I’m Lance, and this big guy is Hunk, and the moody one is Keith.” Lance introduced the others, laughing slightly when Keith gave him a glare while Hunk smiled at Matt in greeting. “We were all from the Garrison before Keith flunked and Shiro returned back to Earth.”

“You escaped? How?” Matt asked the Black Paladin.

“Not all Galra are bad, there were a few that made up this kind of secret organization called the Blade of Malmorra, and one freed me. He told me to keep Voltron out of Zarkon’s hands and that’s what I’ve done since.” Shiro explained.

“Incredible.” Matt murmured.

“Yeah. I’ve had a bit of an adventure since being separated from you and your father.” Shiro chuckled lightly.

“No kidding, you look a lot different from before, Shiro.” Matt commented before looking at the other three. “So you’re all from Earth?”

The three nodded.

They all talked some more but with every passing tick, the three teens kept holding back, biting their tongues whenever they found themselves almost talking about Pidge, feeling guilty about the entire thing.

Finally Laagonne invited them to eat with them, but Shiro said they had to refuse, having to talk to Allura about everything and if they could dock the Castle of Lions alongside the rebel base than they could all eat.

When they left to return to their lions, Lance spoke up first over the communications. “Are we going to tell him?”

“Tell who?” Shiro asked. “And what?”

“Tell Matt, about Pidge.” Keith translated and the mood sombered.

“Oh… I think we should, but…” Shiro sounded uncertain.

“Well we can’t just not tell him his sister has also been taken by the Galra Empire.” Hunk reasoned. “He’d want to know.”

They all heard Shiro sigh. “I know… Okay, I’ll tell him tomorrow.”

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Matt!  
> This chapter was surprisingly hard to write but it makes sense at least.  
> Also have I said yet that I love every one of you for reading this fic? I honestly thought this wasn't going to be all that popular, but here we are. Honestly, every time I look over the Stats for this fic I'm so happy that so many of you have started to read this fic. I really hope I do it justice.


	6. Truth

Shiro did not tell Matt the truth the next day. Nor the day after that, or the day after that.

The Paladins and the Alteans stayed with the rebels for a week, helping inspire the newly freed prisoners, and keep up the morale for the rest. They helped the rebels with fighting better, how to use their weapons properly and effectively.

Shiro used these as excuses for not talking to Matt. But it wasn’t that he didn’t want Matt to know, it was that he couldn’t figure out the words to say. He kept himself busy, and even the others could tell he was avoiding Matt.

Even Matt noticed after a couple days, and he went to ask the teens about it.

“Is Shiro avoiding me?” He asked the three one day when they were all practicing hand-to-hand combat.

Lance was startled by the question, missing Keith’s leg sweep and fell over with a loud yelp. Keith straightened and looked over at the missing Paladin’s brother with a frown.

“What makes you say that?” Hunk asked.

“I haven’t been able to see him longer than a meal time.” Matt said, looking unsure. “Is he avoiding me because of my father’s death? I know he greatly looked up to him before Kerberos.”

Keith and Hunk gave a look to one another as Lance groaned loudly, getting back up and rubbing his now sore behind.

Matt noticed the look and frowned. “Is he?”

Hunk shook his head quickly. “No, that’s not the reason.”

Keith sighed. “It’s… Complicated, okay? I’d suggest getting him to tell you himself, but if he’s avoiding you…”

“Oh, quiznak, if he’s not about to tell Matt, I will.” Lance sounded very tired all of a sudden, and the other two looked at him sharply, but Lance ignored them, beckoning Matt to follow him. “C’mon, man. I want to show you something.”

Matt followed, although confused, as they left the base to the Castle of Lions. Matt had wide eyes just looking at the ship, marvelling at its elegance, before the entered the main hall.

“What are you trying to show me that has to do with why Shiro’s avoiding me?” The older Holt sibling asked as they walked through the ship, sounding only a little distracted as he marveled at the interior.

“It’s a bit of a long story, and I just want to show you it before I tell you.” Lance said, heading off to a place he hadn’t been in since he and Keith had found Hunk in the room.

The two walked on in silence until they reached the hangar, and Matt’s eyes went wide. The hangar was large, and he saw the Green Lion, with her shield up. His eyes scanned the rest of the room, finding wires and parts everywhere, before laying eyes on the Nest. There was something oddly familiar about the layout, and Matt’s heart thudded heavily as he looked around the hangar, even more confused.

“What is this? Why is there another Lion?” He asked Lance.

Lance sighed, his eyes gazing only at the Nest before he looked at Matt. “We had another Paladin before coming here.

“Before leaving Earth, there was another kid with us. Name was Pidge Gunderson. Sarcastic, witty, and brutally honest. They were also a genius, smarter than anyone I’ve ever met.

“So, we all meet up with Shiro, and go off to Keith’s place, to find him having been figuring out something was in these nearby canyons, engravings of lions everywhere. With Pidge and Hunk’s help, we figure where this weird energy Keith was feeling, and we find one of the Lions. My Lion, specifically. Long story short, we all hop into her, we meet the Galra for the first time and escape from them, and Blue flies us through a wormhole.” Lance smiled nostalgically, looking at Matt. “Incredible, right?

“Anyway, we fly through a wormhole to a new galaxy entirely, and find the Castle…”

Lance continues to tell Matt the adventure he and the others have had since finding the Blue Lion, and the older man notices whenever the teen talk about Pidge, this other Paladin, his smile would fade and eyes look a little lost, and he wondered what happened to this genius Pidge, and why Lance was telling him all this.

“...And up until a few months ago, we were doing what we normally did when on a new planet; exploring, seeing if we could find any of the locals.” Lance took a breath, his eyes sliding from the Nest to the Lion. “But we didn’t meet the locals, but a group of Galra. Shiro told us to split up and run back to the Castle. And we did. I was the last one back, but we hadn’t realized until it was too late that something happened to Pidge. She was taken, just…” Now his eyes slid to meet Matt’s. “Just like her family had been.”

Matt frowned, his brows furrowing. “Pidge’s family was taken by the Galra?”

“Yea, but she was relentless to find out what happened after they had been taken during a mission.” Lance replied, still keeping his eyes on the man. “The last she heard about anyone in her family that had been taken was that her older brother had been saved by some rebels.”

Matt’s entire expression went from confused to shocked, like he had just been shot with a few hundred volts of electricity. He took a step back, looking around the room with a new perception and a growing dread in his gut.

“Was Pidge her real name?” He asked in a whisper, afraid to know.

“Not really. We all call her Pidge because it’s the name we know her as, but the name she was born as was Ka-”

“You’re lying.” Matt snapped, his eyes wide, shaking his head. “This person can’t be the same.”

“I’m not lying!” Lance gestured around the hangar. “This was all her stuff, her projects and her plans. She’s been searching since the Kerberos mission said you all were dead. She’s gone through so much to try to find you and your father.”

“This can’t be Katie.” Matt repeated, his hands in fists, shaking. “Katie is home with Mom going to school. She… She can’t…”

“She was taken by the Galra a few months ago, Matt.” Lance said, his voice soft but deadly serious. “That is why Shiro’s been avoiding you. He didn’t know how to tell you this.”

“No.” Matt’s voice shook, and he stumbled over to the nearest wall to hold him up. “Please tell me you’re lying.”

Lance shook his head sadly. “I wouldn’t lie about something like this. I’m sorry.”

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Pawn woke up with a gasp. She looked around her cell room, her dream still clinging to her mind.

It was very strange. Pawn couldn’t remember why she would have these sorts of dreams. They made no sense. She saw forests and green and always, just before waking up, could distantly hear a lion’s roar.

Pawn rubbed her face, feeling wet spots trailing from her eyes and she was confused again.

She shook her head, trying to rid the dream from her memory, but it clung all the tighter, like her mind was trying to tell her it was something important. But she knew it wasn’t. She was a soldier for Haggar, for the Prince, not some naturalist for Animal Planet.

Her breath shook slightly and she had to focus on her breathing to calm down. She could not look weak. Weakness was a disease and would have to be cut out, like pruning a plant, so Pawn could not be weak. She rubbed her hands over her face, scrubbing the last of the tears away.

She stood up from the spot she fell asleep at, going about her normal routine of stretches and exercise until the sentries came to fetch her. Pawn knew it wouldn’t be too long now. Haggar had told her she was to start an important mission soon. She had to be ready.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know, the au for Haggarian!Pidge is great. I love it. Chock full of angst. I'm taking bits and pieces of it for this fic, and this chapter is especially full of references to the au.  
> I'm really happy with how many of you are reading this fic, like wow??? It's already pretty decently close to 1000 hits. omg


	7. Ploy

Pawn was standing in her place, back straight despite her body obviously objecting to the odd new posture. She was hopefully going to learn what this mission Haggar wanted her to do, a small rebellious spark of curiosity in her that was out of place from her emotionless mind.

When Haggar arrived to the room, she was escorted by a couple sentries. This was added security for some measure Pawn didn’t learn about, except that it was to protect the Head of the Druids. Pawn wasn’t sure she really understand why, as the witch was plenty strong enough on her own, but she never voiced her questions. Asking petty questions like that meant pain, meant bad times for Pawn and then she would never know about her mission.

“Ah, you are here, Pawn.” The witch sounded almost amused when her bright yellow - such a harsh yellow, too, Pawn thought, her mind drifting to a softer yellow, like a golden colour before she snapped her attention back to Haggar - eyes gazed at the experiment. “Good, good. Your mission will be explained briefly, we just must wait for Prince Lotor to arrive before it is told.”

Pawn nodded jerkily, her eyes almost glazing over as she realized she would have to wait here for who-knew-how-long for the Prince. She felt the traitorous curiosity spike inside her again and her hands formed fists, trying to snuff it out. Pawn knew she would find out when they allowed her to find out, but it was like she couldn’t bear to wait, despite knowing what would happen if she opened her mouth to speak out of turn.

Luckily she did not have to wait too long, as the Prince strolled in a half hour later, a surprising grin on his face when his eyes landed on Pawn.

“We are really doing this? Oh, this will be fun.” He said, still grinning at Pawn with a disturbing look that created nervous butterflies flutter restlessly in the soldier’s stomach.

Haggar nodded, turning to her experiment to finally go on with the plan. She had kept the Green Paladin locked away, slowly chipping away at the child’s mental defenses until there was little left. She had found out a great many things - sadly none involving the other Paladins or much of the Lions or Alteans (or still the fact Pawn was not a boy) - but she had found out enough to twist whatever perception the child had on the other Paladins. She had kept him close during the whole ordeal, not about to have another "Champion fiasco" this time around, and also watched the Paladin fight, learning to notice any weaknesses the child might possess if he were to break free of her control.

“We are going to stage a ploy.” She began. “You will pretend to have recently escaped from the Galra and find your way to the wretched thieves that have taken Voltron. You must gain their trust long enough to destroy them quickly and effectively. We do not need you to take longer than a couple spicolian movements to get rid of the Voltron Paladins.”

Pawn’s face formed a scowl at the mention of the Paladins, her mind reminded of her brother and father and how these scum had murdered them in cold blood. She nodded in understanding.

“Good. Now, you will be taking a deactivated drone with you that, when you place a hand on its top, a signal will be emitted so we will find you after you have completed your mission. Is that understood?” Haggar asked.

Pawn nodded again curtly, her expression still scowling a bit.

“Remember, Pawn. Their words cannot be trusted. You do not wish to end up like your brother or father, do you?”

The soldier shook her head hard and Haggar and Lotor smiled between each other.

“It is a shame I cannot see these Paladins.” Lotor sniffed. “It would have been amusing to see their faces when this one kills them all, no?”

“Yes, but we cannot allow them to come near you, Prince Lotor. Your father tried numerous times and now because of those accursed Voltron Paladins, he is near-death.”

Pawn zoned out of the conversation, no longer interested in the conversation. She was already forming plans for her meeting of the murderers.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

“God, Katie’s been looking for us? For over a year?” Matt asked one evening, or what would count as evening since the four Paladins, the Alteans and Matt were eating dinner together in the Castle of Lions.

Shiro nodded, looking pained still after finding out Lance had told Matt everything. It wasn’t that he didn’t want Matt to know about what happened to Pidge, it was that he hadn’t been able to tell Matt himself.

“Yes, even when she became a Paladin of Voltron, she was still looking for you and your father.” Allura said in a soft voice, a tone she seemed to have reserved for specifically talking about Pidge since the separation.

“That’s… Wow, she had so much faith that we were still out there, huh?” The older Holt sibling asked.

“She’s stubborn and would never take no for an answer.” Lance answered, playing with his food. In fact, when he looked around, the only ones actually eating more than a couple bites every two minutes were Hunk and Coran. “She would look for proof that you or your father were killed than accept anything lying down.”

Matt chuckled, his expression still fixed on disbelief. “Sounds like her. She won’t believe anything unless she can somehow see it.”

“It’s what makes her the perfect pilot for the Green Lion.” Allura said, a small smile ghosting her lips.

“Okay, so let me get this straight.” Matt pushed his food away to lean forward on the table. “Katie snuck into the Garrison as a boy, looking for me and Dad, got caught up in this Paladin business and now has been caught by the aliens that took us away from her in the first place?”

Shiro nodded slowly.

“I’m going to help you guys find her.”

The room went still for a couple moments before Coran spoke. “How do you even know Pidge would still be alive?”

“The same way she knew Dad and I weren’t dead. I believe in her, and after the stories I’ve heard from you and the legends about Voltron since becoming free, I know she’ll be alive still. The Galra wouldn’t kill her without trying to take all she knows.”

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *side-eyes Pidge's three names* I dug this hole, might as well see where it takes me. Just gotta remember who uses which names...  
> God, if this fic gets to 1K hits before it's finished I might just cry. Every time a fic of mine gets to 1K I get ridiculously happy


	8. Caught by surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoever the guest was that called themselves Crying, you almost hit the nail on the head almost two chapters back. Enjoy~

Pawn was shot out in the escape pod in a strange white and green suit, very different from the dark and sharp suit she had been wearing for months, yet unlike the sharp suit, this one fitted her just right. She looked down at herself again as she sat in the middle of the pod, frowning at the arrow - or was it a V? - that swept across her chest. The sight gave her an uneasy feeling, like the symbol meant both good and evil but the soldier couldn’t really understand it.

When she was well enough away from the main fleet, Pawn stood up and headed for the communications station, her fingers a blur as she repeated the sequence she was told to give to appear in distress.

 _SOS stranded escaped galra SOS_ the message repeated at a frequency the Galra didn’t listen to, but hopefully the enemy would.

Pawn didn’t have to wait long before she received a response back. Someone had heard and was coming to ‘rescue’ her. She read the script and a slow smirk appeared.

 _Castle of Lions_ was written deep in the script, and she knew that the enemies had heard and fell for the ruse hook, line, and sinker.

Now all she had to do was wait.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Matt had said farewell to the other rebels when Allura found the distress signal.

It was a weak signal, obviously far in the outer regions of the Galra empire, even farther from the small rebel base the Castle of Lions was situated by.

The Paladins and Matt returned to the ship soon after, Hunk leading Matt to an empty room he would be able to sleep in, accidentally putting him just a couple rooms away from his sister’s untouched room, but luckily Matt wouldn’t know that yet.

“Paladins, do not get comfortable just yet. Another signal just came in. It seems a small ship had just escaped the Galra and is requesting assistance.” The two heard Allura over the communication system. “If you are not too busy, I would hope to see you all on the bridge before we make the jump to the Juballe system where the signal is originating from.”

Hunk looked over at Matt, who had just risen from sitting on his new bed. “You don’t have to if you’re still tired.”

Matt shook his head. “I’m fine. I’m curious about what the jump will look like.” He replied, standing up fully to walk over to the door where Hunk stood still. “C’mon, let’s go.”

The two headed quickly to the bridge, just a couple ticks before Shiro did and they all sat down in their respective seats - Matt sitting awkwardly in Pidge’s spot - before Allura began to create the wormhole.

Matt watched in fascination at the large portal-type thing that they flew towards, gripping the edges of his sister’s chair when he saw the inside of the wormhole, eyes wide for the several ticks it took to fully travel through.

Allura and Coran were looking around the ship once they were out of the wormhole, Allura bringing up the signal again.

“Do any of you see the ship? It should be within a few clicks from here.” The Altean Princess spoke before looking relieved to see the ship blink red on the radars. “Ah, Coran, please get us a connection with the ship, we do not want to scare them.”

“Right away, Princess.” Coran answered, his hands swiping through his control panel before he looked back at Allura. “All ready to go.”

“Thank you, Coran.” The Princess smiled at her fellow Altean before her demeanor became more diplomatic. “Hello? This is Princess Allura of Altea, we have received your distress signal, are you okay?”

There was static for several long ticks before it cleared up enough for them to hear a hum of acknowledgement. The voice sounded distorted on the communication link, but everyone could tell it was a rather young voice - unless the alien species all sounded that young - just from the hum.

Allura looked between the Paladins before her eyes landed on Shiro. “Shiro, would you please go and help the ship?”

Shiro nodded, and the two missed the noise over the connection like something suddenly smacking against metal when Shiro’s name had been mentioned. Matt and the teens frowned at the noise but didn’t speak up as Shiro left, heading for his Lion.

A couple dobashes later, Shiro was in his Lion and was heading for the ship, which, now that he could see it clearly, looked like an escape pod like the one he had escaped in almost a year ago. He sidled Huyen up beside the pod and helped guide it into the docking bay.

When they were both inside, Shiro left his Lion to check on the escaped inside the pod, getting it open to see a sight that left him frozen.

The hair was even more wild than Matt’s, the Paladin suit scratched up, and Shiro saw several cuts and fading bruises on her neck and cheeks, and like Matt, she wore no glasses. But it was Pidge, despite looking worse for wear and Shiro wasn’t sure how to react.

But Pidge seemed to know exactly what to do. She looked at Shiro for a split second before something she saw transformed her emotionless expression to pure hatred. She gave a shout of anger before launching herself at Shiro, a blade in her hand Shiro hadn’t noticed going straight for his head. Shiro’s body went into autopilot as he ducked out of the way of the Galra blade, swiping Pidge away when she advanced again.

Finally his mind caught up with him, and Shiro shouted in alarm. “Pidge! It’s me, what are you doing!?”

Pidge faltered for a moment before her gaze on him hardened. “Pidge?” She seemed to spit out the word. “Who’s Pidge?”

She launched herself at Shiro again with a war cry, and Shiro had to go on the defensive, ducking and pulling away from the younger Paladin, shouting up to the communications. “Guys, help!”

Back on the bridge, everyone heard Shiro’s yell and they all bolted up, alarmed and confused. The teens started running, Keith yelling over his shoulder. “You all stay here, we’ll help Shiro.”

The Paladins sprinted to the docking bay, their bayards ready for a fight. But when they reached the large area, all three stopped in surprise at the sight.

“Pidge?” Hunk and Keith looked perplexed at Shiro and Pidge, who seemed to have paused in some sort of fight.

“Pidge!” Lance shouted, causing the girl to whirl to see who had spoken. “Quiznak it is you!”

“Guys, stay back.” Shiro warned, but it was too late as Lance ran to his friend, his bayard returning to its unused formed. “Lance!”

Everything froze for a bit, as Pidge had run at Lance as well, but only Shiro saw what really happened. Lance’s body gave a jerk forward as he met Pidge, his mouth opening and closing with a look of complete shock coming over his expression.

Pidge stepped back, her Galra blade stuck in Lance’s stomach, as he hadn’t been wearing his Paladin suit when they had made the jump. Shiro couldn’t see her face, but Lance and the other teens could see her dark smirk as she watched the growing dark stain on Lance’s front before yanking the blade out of his gut.

It was like the blade had also cut any strings holding Lance up, as he fell to his knees, then his side, and still Lance couldn’t make a sound. Everything was quiet before Keith's expression turned murderous. He gave an angry shout and ran at Pidge, tackling her to the ground. Pidge didn’t seem to have expected it, as she put up a fight to get free but Keith was running on some sort of adrenaline and who-knew-what-else. Keith easily twisted the bloody blade out of her hand and swiped it over to Shiro, who still stood in complete shock, before Keith pinned the girl down, both snarling at the other.

“Getoff!” Pidge growled angrily, wriggling furiously but Keith had the height, weight and strength on his side.

“What do you think you’re doing?! What did you do!?” Keith shouted down at her as he restrained her on the floor of the docking bay. “Why did you attack him, Pidge?!”

“Who’s Pidge? Get off of me, murderer!” Pidge shouted back with just as much venom in her tone as was in Keith’s.

“Murderer? What are you even saying? _You_ just tried to kill your own friend!” Keith gripped Pidge’s wrists, his legs pressing against hers so she couldn’t try to kick him, using his height and weight against her.

“You are _not_ my friends.” Pidge growled out, her teeth bared up at Keith. “How could I ever be friends with the people who killed my family?!”

“What are you talking about?! We haven’t hurt your-” Keith started when he was interrupted.

“Katie?”

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was fun to write. A little hard because I'm trying not to have any of the characters to really curse, but mostly fun.  
> See ya Monday guys~


	9. Little Lion Cub

Pawn froze completely at the name underneath the Red Paladin, her expression in open shock. Even though she had not heard that voice in over two year, coming closer to three years since the launch to Kerberos, she could recognize that voice anywhere.

The Red Paladin looked down at her in confusion before he was thrown of by her desperate bucking. Pawn scrambled up, her eyes wide and searching, ignoring the bleeding Blue Paladin - at least she believed he was the Blue Paladin, even if he wasn’t wearing his suit like the others were - when her eyes locked onto the man standing just behind the Yellow Paladin.

She gave a wordless cry, sure she was seeing a ghost, or a hologram, but then the man pushed passed the larger Paladin to walk, cautiously, towards her, his eyes wide and as disbelieving as hers were.

“Katie?” He asked again.

Pawn gave a cry again, having lost her ability to speak properly, and her eyes filled and blinded her with tears. Her mouth moved, desperate to say his name, but she couldn’t find her voice.

It wasn’t until he was just a couple steps away from her when she finally could.

“Matt!” Her voice was thick and tight and she moved towards him when she was tackled again by the Red Paladin. Her voice cracked as she screeched. “No! Matt! Matt!”

She could no longer see him, her face practically pushed against the floor of the docking bay, and she felt panic well up in her chest. She couldn’t struggle out, her hands held painfully behind her back by the black-haired Paladin, and she was so wrapped up in her blind panic to see her brother she barely heard the Paladin tell the others to help the other.

Pawn was in tears, bucking and struggling hard to break free, to see her brother she was sure she would never see again when something smashed into the back of her neck and she fell into a calm blackness.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

“Get Lance to the Med Bay, NOW!” Keith shouted the order as he struggled to hold down Pidge, who was now behaving more like a wild dog, screeching and crying and trying to do anything in her power to get back up.

Hunk and Shiro snapped to action, nodding quickly as they rushed to their hurt friend and carefully got him up, trying not to disrupt the wound any more than necessary.

“Coran, we’re gunna need a pod ready _now._ ” Shiro yelled to the communications. “Lance is hurt badly.”

“What in the world happened?” Allura asked from the bridge, watching as Coran ran to the medical area to prepare a pod for Lance.

“It’s…” Shiro wasn’t sure how to say it as he and Hunk half-carried, half-dragged Lance down the corridors. “It’s complicated, Princess. We’ll explain when Lance is safe.”

“Shiro?” Allura asked but Shiro ignored her.

Back in the docking bay, Keith and Matt looked down at the now unconscious girl. Keith had to knock Pidge unconscious to calm her down, as every passing moment she seemed to get more and more frenzied and he didn’t want her to try anything - to herself or to him or Matt.

“What happened?” Matt asked in a flat voice.

Keith looked up at him, seeing that Matt was kneeling beside him, looking down at his sister, and he sighed, shaking his head. “I don’t know. Lance ran at her, and I dunno, when they separated, he had some sort of knife in his gut. I couldn’t let her do anything so I… I just tackled her. I had to stop her.”

“Is she okay?” Matt asked as he nudged at Keith to get off his sister, turning her onto her back, his eyes roving over her bruises, cuts and small scars over the exposed skin.

“I didn’t hurt her too bad if that’s what you’re asking.” Keith replied. “I just knocked her out so she wouldn’t try to do anything. But we can’t let her go do whatever. We have to hold her down somewhere where she can’t hurt anyone, not even herself.”

“What happened to her?”

Keith looked down at the girl between them with a hard look, his anger over seeing Lance fall over without ever saying a word still pumping through his veins. “I don’t know, but I can guess they did something to her.”

“Keith?” Both guys jumped at Allura’s voice from the communications. “What happened to Lance? Can you tell me what’s going on?”

“It’s complicated, Allura.” Keith answered, getting up and picking up Pidge, draping her over his shoulder. He ignored Matt’s pointed look. “But do we have any place in the castle to hold someone so they don’t hurt themselves or us?”

“Uhm, why?” Allura elongated the word in confusion.

“Because we have someone who just tried to kill Shiro and badly wounded Lance.” Keith snapped at the Altean Princess. “Please, Princess, we just need a holding place.”

On the bridge Allura looked affronted but kept her tone neutral as she told them about a small holding cell a ways from the docking bay that would work for whoever had come in from the ship.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Pawn dreamt of green forests again. She was wandering through a particularly dense thicket of trees when she came upon a clearing bigger than any she had seen before, but there was something about the place that left a sense of calm that went deep into her bones.

She decided to rest in the middle of the clearing, laying down with her hands behind her head, looking up at the sky. It was a peaceful place, the only sounds were her own breathing and the leaves rustling.

It was while she was appreciating the quiet when she heard a voice. It was faint, almost scared, but intimately familiar to Pawn for reasons she couldn’t describe.

“You’ve returned?” The faint voice asked, the words like a warm caress and Pawn looked around for the speaker but found no one around her.

“Who’s there?” She called out, sitting up.

The voice ignored her, just repeating their previous question. “You’ve returned?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Who is this?” Pawn answered.

“What has happened to you, cub?” The voice was soft, like a mother to her child. “You are hurt in mind and spirit, beyond my abilities to repair.”

“What are you talking about?” Pawn demanded, twisting this way and that to find the voice. “Who are you? Come out so I can see you!”

“If you cannot see me, you have forgotten who you are, cub.” The voice finally answered her, although not in the way Pawn would have liked. “You must remember who you are, before you may see me.”

Pawn was about to ask the voice to make sense when she heard a distant lion’s roar and her eyes shot open with a gasp.

Chapter done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mufasa voice: Remember who you are
> 
> Oh come on, there are lions and lost memories, how could I not make a Lion King reference?  
> Last chapter coming up on Friday. Hope ya'll are ready~


	10. Taken

All around her were cream coloured walls. Cream walls, cream ceiling, and if Pawn looked at where she lay, she could probably guess that too was cream-coloured.

Pawn sat up, rubbing the back of her head with a scowl. Her head was a bit scattered at the moment, so she retraced her steps from her last clear memory.

It took a while, but she slowly worked back from seeing the Black Paladin’s face, feigning concern for her, to seeing the other Paladins arriving to aide their horrible leader and one of them stupidly going at her without a weapon.

But if she really thought about it, there was something wrong there. Why would the Blue Paladin come at her without a weapon? She had clearly seen his bayard before, so it wasn’t as if he had arrived weaponless. So why did he seem like he was more interested in embracing her than hurting her?

A thought nudged at her consciousness, pleading to be heard but it was too small and vague for Pawn to understand. It spoke of words Pawn wasn’t sure were true or not.

The thought spoke of friendship, camaraderie with those men, but that had to be impossible. They were murderers, they killed Matt and her father…

But she was so sure she had _seen_ Matt just before getting knocked out. He looked a little worse for wear but he was flesh and bone. Had she imagined it?

A door suddenly appeared from the smooth cream wall to Pawn’s side, and her hand went to her hip for her dagger, but found nothing.

The person appeared in the doorway, looking concerned and a little hurt by Pawn’s movement. She was tall and beautiful even to Pawn, with shocking white hair and cotton candy eyes, pointed ears like fantasy elves, dark skin and strange pink markings not too unlike Haggar’s markings under her eyes.

“Pidge? What happened?” The woman asked, a heavy accent that reminded Pawn of Earthly Brits.

“Who’s Pidge? Who are you?” Pawn rebuked, taking a couple steps away from the elven woman when she approached, the door closing and sealing like it was never there.

“What?” The woman looked deeply confused, and genuinely concerned that Pawn felt herself relax around her without understanding. “Pidge. That’s your name. I’m Princess Allura, remember? What happened to you?”

“Allura?” Pawn’s eyes wandered the room as she tried to figure out if she knew the name, vaguely hearing the small thought rear its head excitedly. “Allura. I know that name? How?”

“Oh, Pidge, what did they do to you?” Princess Allura sounded so sad, her hands clasped in front of her.

Pawn - _or was it Pidge as this Princess seemed incessant in calling her?_ \- took another couple steps back, her back hitting the back wall. “What’s going on?”

Allura looked uncertain, searching Pawn’s face closely despite the wide gap between them. “Do you really not remember?”

“I remember my mission. I have to return Voltron to the Galra. Where it belongs.” Pawn spoke almost robotically, her words automatic.

Allura’s eyes widened and she shook her head quickly. “Pidge, no. The Galra can never get their hands on Voltron. You should know this. The Galra would destroy the remaining free galaxies until nothing was left.”

“No, Voltron belongs to the Galra Empire. Those four are murderers and thieves.”

“Murderers? How can you say that about your friends?”

Pawn’s head snapped up, terrible confusion written across her knitted brows. “Friends? They killed my family, Princess! How could you defend them?”

“Your family?” Allura’s brows also knitted together before a spark of understanding appeared in her eyes and she shook her head quickly. “No, they would never. Your brother is fine. He’s alive and well, he’s even in the Castle right now.”

“My brother’s here? How can that be? He was…” Pawn struggled to think straight, so many thoughts now jumbling together. “But that man, the leader… I could have sworn he…”

Nothing was making sense. _Pawn… Pidge… Katie…_ Names and thoughts swirled in her head and she clutched her head, shaking it violently like it would fix the jumbled mess.

She jumped when a slight hand touched her shoulder, and looked up to see the Princess was kneeling in front of her to see eye-to-eye with the soldier. “I don’t know what they’ve done to you, but you are safe now. The Galra have failed.”

Pawn looked at the other woman with wide eyes, not being able to even think of anything to say.

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Keith and Hunk paced in the medical bay anxiously. They kept looking over at Lance’s now sleeping face, his brow creased in slight pain, but they both knew while the pod healed him, the crease would smooth over.

But still they worried. They were all forbidden from going near Pidge until Allura decided it was okay after what happened to Lance. The one to put up the biggest fight was Shiro, with Matt just behind, although they fought for two very different reasons. Shiro was worried for Allura’s safety with the rogue Green Paladin, thinking she would be attacked like Lance had been, while Matt just wanted to see his sister again after so long.

So while Allura went off to talk to Pidge, the two teens paced in front of Lance’s pod, their worry feeding off one another in an endless cycle that they weren’t sure would end until Lance awoke. But that would be a while, according to Coran.

“She managed to hit the lining of his stomach.” He had told the others when they had joined him in the bay. “We have to keep him in there until there’s no threat that his stomach acid will escape and harm him further from the inside-out.”

“How long?” Keith had demanded.

“About twenty-four of your Earth hours if I had to hazard a guess. Maybe less.” The Altean had replied before heading off to check the Castle’s defenses, to make sure they wouldn’t get surrounded or anything like that.

The two had been there ever since, which had been a couple hours ago now.

“I… I still can’t believe it.” Hunk stammered quietly, sitting on the steps leading to the middle of the room. “He-she-I can’t believe that happened.”

“I can’t either, big guy.” Keith sighed, looking over at Lance’s pod before sitting beside Hunk, patting his shoulder.

“I just… She just went and… And he said nothing.” Hunk ran a hand over his face slowly before turning to face Keith head on. “I’ve never seen Lance that quiet before. Why did he get so quiet?”

“I don’t know. Shock maybe?” Keith guessed, but he knew whatever he thought would be wrong if even his best friend didn’t have a clue.

“Quiznak… How did it come to this? I thought we were done, man. We defeated Zarkon, shouldn’t we be done with this entire thing?” Hunk asked.

“I…” Keith looked away, his hand retreating from Hunk’s shoulder. “I don’t know.” He repeated.

~+~+~Several hours later~+~+~

Haggar felt the fail-safe she had placed around her experiment’s mind go off and growled angrily. She headed to her labs with a hard look to any who dared cross her path to the lab.

When she reached the dark area that was her labs, Haggar went to an old book where she had found the spell for the fail-safe link and got to work.

She focused on her magic energy and fed it through the link to the Green Paladin’s mind, and even through the distance, overran the child’s mind easily. Tearing through the recent memories, Haggar smiled at the fact the child had actually attacked one of his own allies before tearing everything apart, leaving shambles in the Paladin’s mind.

 _“You may have failed this mission, but you will not leave that Castle without a captive.”_ She telepathically ordered her Pawn. _“Find the Blue Paladin and escape back here. Now.”_

~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Pawn awoke with a gasp, bolting up from her spot. The words clouded all thoughts and she found herself standing and walking off. She found an airvent small enough to escape through and crawled out of her containment area to the main hall, and still her mind was abuzz with _Find the Blue Paladin. Find the Blue Paladin._

It took a bit of guesswork and apparent muscle memory before Pawn found the place she was looking for.

The Medical Bay had people in it still, the other two teenaged Paladins sleeping against one another on part of the steps leading to the medical pods, where one stood up, containing just the person her mind was demanding her to take.

If she had been able to think properly, Pawn would have been confused why she had to do such a thing, especially after everything the Princess had told her. She would have realized she was in fact being brainwashed to listen to the Galra, but the noise was too loud to think of anything but to fulfill the orders, if only for the noise to quiet in her mind.

Pawn walked around the two sleeping Paladins and looked at the healing Blue Paladin with blank eyes. She reached forward, somehow knowing just what to do, and within ticks and a quiet _hiss_ the pod opened.

The Paladin fell out, still out of it, and Pawn struggled, much too small to pick him up. She huffed quietly, glancing at the other two furtively as she dragged the wounded Paladin out of the room as quietly as she could.

The rest of the journey was quick, and soon Pawn found herself in the docking bay and she began preparations to get a small ship out of the Castle when she heard movement.

“Katie, what are you doing?”

Pawn whirled around, her right arm hooking around the Blue Paladin’s neck threateningly as she saw the Black Paladin walk over towards them.

“What are you doing with Lance?”

Pawn opened her mouth to reply, but when she spoke, she found another voice speaking instead. “This is compensation for attempting to break this child free.” She spoke woodenly, Haggar’s voice sounding odd coming from Pawn. “Do not attempt to follow or an accident may befall both Paladins and we will be closer to finally getting rid of you pests.”

“You won’t get away with this.” The leader spoke in a hard voice. “We’ll find you and save both Pidge and Lance. You can’t win. We already beat you several times.”

“You may have, but can you beat your own allies?” Haggar asked, Pawn’s body dragging the Blue Paladin’s body to the ready ship. “See you again, Champion.”

The Black Paladin didn’t move as Pawn dropped the lanky teen into the ship and hopped in herself, and within ticks, they were gone.

Story done!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost thought of splitting this into two parts, but the last chapter would have been like 400 words and I couldn't have that.  
> Anyway, yep, this is the end of the fic. But don't worry~ The sequel will come along that'll continue where this left off. I couldn't get to write everything that I wanted so this will be a series, and hopefully it'll be a five fic series if I can get it to work for me.  
> So be on the lookout for the next fic, titled The Blue Paladin. It'll be out on Monday!

**Author's Note:**

> I always end up surprised when I start writing a fic for a new fandom. But here I am, writing for Voltron now.  
> So I got this idea after seeing a lot of Prince Lotor and Lance, and this fic was born after following that and having always loved the Haggarian!Pidge AU.


End file.
